The castle is located about 542 m. s.l.m. on the western edge of a hill, in the municipality of Genzano di Lucania, it dominates a vast hilly landscape, bordered to the east by the Alta Murgia. Built, probably on the remains of an ancient Roman villa (excavations carried out on the western side of the hill have brought to light the remains of a settlement and a pre-Roman necropolis), it represents, for the construction phases that characterize it, an interesting example of medieval architecture in Basilicata. Built in the 11th century, the Castle area, was originally covered by a large wooded area and relatively close to the historic via Appia. The castle, born with the Normans as a defensive bulwark of the inhabited area, in a phase where the demographic increase and the urban expansion of the early medieval village, strengthened the already existing defensive wall and the needed new fortified perimeter. Nonetheless in the first half of the XIII century it lost its strictly military connotation to assume the dimension of "Domus", mainly linked to the exploitation of the agricultural resources of the rich surrounding territory, thus becoming one of the cornerstones of the administrative structure of Frederik II, being organized for horse breeding and grain production. This model was later adopted by the Angevins and further strengthened by the Aragonese.
Meanwhile, the continuous extension of the areas destined to pasture and arable land to the detriment of the wooded areas and territories subjected to civic uses, that guaranteed the essential resources for the survival of the population, determined the gradual depopulation of the town until its total disappearance around to 1430. The castle, which is now an isolated element at the top of the hill, underwent a radical restructuring with the strengthening of the curtain wall and the construction of the scarp buttress and the access ramp. The castle of Monteserico belonged, in the following centuries, to several feudal lords and at the end of the 1980s the property was acquired by the Municipality of Genzano di Lucania. The building was the subject of a long and delicate restoration to enhance the regional cultural heritage.
Those who travel along the secondary roads of Puglia and Basilicata often come across abandoned houses or ghost villages. It is often a legacy of the Land Reform that, in the 1950s, deeply marked the territory of rural areas scattered between the two regions. It was a great project (failed after a few years) of expropriation and redistribution of large estates, with the creation of small properties and related farmhouse in which a new class of small landowners would settle. In some cases real hamlets were built, such as those of Taccone and Santa Maria d'Irsi (completed in 1958) that you see in the photos. They are places that possess a particular charm. They are a monument to post-war Italy, its hopes and its failures, which we have known only through the stories of our parents and grandparents.
The creation of Borgo Taccone originated in the 1950s. Following the Agrarian Reform, the village was founded as a service center for the needs of farmers residing in the various farmhouses scattered in the surrounding area, and in order to create a real rural settlement. Borgo Taccone in fact had the typical characteristics of agricultural settlements, combined with the administrative structures suited to a residential center. With the arrival of the various assignees of agricultural funds, the village was equipped with an elementary school, post office, carabinieri station, clinic, and railway station. After an initial period of relative population expansion, in the 60s and 70s Borgo Taccone began to empty and many of its inhabitants left their assigned houses to emigrate elsewhere. Nowadays, a few families reside permanently in the village.
